Seek your Hidden Treasure in the Blessed Sacrament

17th Sunday
Tempus per Annum (A)
1 Kgs 3:5, 7-5 “Solomon asks for the gift of Wisdom”
Ps 119: “How I love your law, O Lord.”
Rom 8:28-30 “God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, to be glorified…”
Matthew 13:44-52 “He sells all that he has and buys the field.”

Why do you speak to the crowd in Parables? One can notice that this Sunday and the last two Sundays have been spent going through Matthew’s Chapter 13, where Jesus delivers seven different parables to the people. I don’t know whether it is just me or if you all may agree, but I don’t understand Jesus’ parables and I think the disciples did well to question Jesus’ use of parable. Nevertheless, this is the word of God and we are called to reflect deeply on it at all times, there may be something that Jesus desires us to hear in one of these cryptic parables.
Something He desires us to hear. To Hear. In Mt. 13 multiple times Jesus stops after a parable or explanation and says: “Whoever has ears ought to Hear.” Remember last Sunday, Jesus explains what he meant by the parable of the sower in the field, where some seed fell on good soil, others on bad, weedy, or rocky soil. Jesus ended this with a very point blank exclamation. “Whoever has ears, ought to hear.”

That is the main goal. Listen. Open your Ears. Hear what the Lord has to say to you today.

He sells all that he has and buys this one field. So Jesus gives us today two parables. Let’s look at the first two:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person find and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” “Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant who when he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” In order to receive such a great treasure, one must first go and sell all he has and focus on just that one great thing, like a pearl of great price, or a buried treasure worth more than all else.
What do we have today that is our pearl of great price or our priceless buried treasure? I assure you all that that priceless treasure is nothing other than Jesus Christ Himself. Do you realize what is about to happen here in this sanctuary…on that sacred altar….in between the fingers of this mortal man. With these simple words, “This is my Body & This is my Blood.” The Priest of Jesus Christ calls heaven down upon earth and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself becomes present to us in the fulness of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
That is our buried treasure, our pearl of great price.
You may ask yourself, “Why is the holy Deacon always bringing us back to the Eucharist, you would think that he knows we understand that by now.” And I say no. Unless you fill your heart with Christ and know how truly present He is to us now in the Blessed Sacrament, you cannot live a good Christian life. How can you be Christ to others, if you don’t first have Christ within you? How can you love your husband, your wife, your children, your family, if you don’t first know and experience love yourself?
Come to your buried treasure and encounter your pearl of great price. He is here waiting for you. Go and sell all that you have. Surrender completely to God and follow his Holy Will. Seek the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven, which He wishes to impart on us today, now in His Sacred Body and Precious Blood. What are you still holding onto that does not permit you to purchase this field with a buried treasure or this one pearl worth more than all others? Divest yourself of the trappings of this world. Put away your screens and your wallets, your worries and your difficulties, your pain and your suffering, and go straight to Christ.

Whoever has ears, ought to Hear.

Go and Sell all that you Have Two things that we can do to embrace the Kingdom of Heaven promised to us by Christ:

Find something in your life that is preventing you from buying that one great pearl. Go and sell this item, remove it from your life. Find that one thing that prevents you from encountering Christ more deeply in your life.

Come before the greatest treasure that is available to us on this earth. The Blessed Sacrament. Seek the glorious and Eucharistic Face of Christ. Spend time with Him and let him glorify you.

St. Agnes Catholic Church & her attached missions in the Weiser River Valley